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The Trash

No single element of the Macintosh interface is as recognizable or famous as the Trash
can, which now appears at the end of the Dock.

You can discard almost any icon by dragging it onto the Trash icon (which actually
resembles a wastebasket, not a trash can, but let’s not quibble). When the tip of
your arrow cursor touches the Trash icon, the little wastebasket turns black. When
you release the mouse, you’re well on your way to discarding whatever it was you
dragged. As a convenience, Mac OS X even replaces the empty-wastebasket icon
with a wastebasket-filled-with-crumpled-up-papers icon, to let you know there’s
something in there.

Tip

Learn the keyboard alternative to dragging something to the Trash: highlight the icon and then press
-Delete. This technique is not only far faster than dragging, but requires far less precision, especially if you
have a large screen. Mac OS X does all the Trash-targeting for you.

Rescuing Files and Folders from the Trash

If you haven’t yet emptied the Trash, you can open its window by clicking the wastebasket
icon once. Now you can review its contents: icons that you’ve placed on the
waiting list for extinction. If you change your mind, you can rescue any of these items
by dragging them out of the Trash window.

Tip

If dragging something to ...

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